The recent Atlus Exclusive Metaphor: ReFantazio livestream continues the monthly dripfeed of new info for Studio Zero’s upcoming fantasy RPG.
After focusing explaining core gameplay systems and setting the stage for the story, the broadcast from August 28 focuses on the game’s world and setting.
Unlike the games that were made by this development team’s veterans have done before (which includes Shin Megami Tensei III, Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5), Metaphor lets players travel the world visiting different towns and meeting new people.
Given that Metaphor, like the Persona series, has strict timetable it is operating in (missions have hard time limits), traveling the world map has more decision making involved. What route to take? Is there another side mission on the same path you can stop and clear? And most importantly, how do you spend time.
The livestream confirms that Metaphor also have personality stats like Persona (and the recent Like A Dragon games) where the protagnist can increase and use to pass certain skill checks. In the livestream, the protagonist attempts to bungee jump off a cliff and failed the skill check, showing him tripped and fall before even reaching the cliff.
These personality stats, virtues as they are referred to, also unlocks conversation options.
Players can increase virtues by spending time doing specific activities. Players can also spend time on activities, be it taking a bath with specific bath salts for stat boosts, or partaking in activities with a partner (like doing weapon maintainence with Sthrol) will increase virtues.
If you are unsure what to do in a town, or not sure how to spend the time on what activity, there’s a feature that brings up online data of what other players do on that day. Your fairy partner Gallica can also suggest what to do and where to go when in town.
The strict progress of time also will see specific events only triggering on the right time. An example shown on the livestream is a shop offering a discount on an upcoming holiday.
Three towns were showcased in the new Metaphor livestream: The first town seen before, Martira, the coastal town of Port Brilehaven and Virga Island. Each has a different vibe, which should make for some interesting exploration and travel.
Seeing different towns and being able to explore the wider world is a common RPG thing, but the team at Studio Zero is really excited to provide “the joys of travelling from town to town” in Metaphor: ReFantazio. With the time-based hooks, it should make for a nice change of pace, where you actually have to plan your travels accordingly to ensure you get to do what you need to do to progress through the story involving a dead king and an election race.
Metaphor: ReFantazio will be out on October 11 for the PS4, PS5, PC (Steam, Microsoft Store) and Xbox Series X|S